


Stars

by moricat



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Childhood Friends, Childhood Sweethearts, Fluff, M/M, Platonic Romance, Romantic Friendship, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 18:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9507485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moricat/pseuds/moricat
Summary: A short Eremin blurb for EreminSeason Day 1: Stars!In which 9 year olds Eren and Armin have an intimate conversation while stargazing during a sleepover.Childhood fluff and sweetness abounds!<3 Enjoy if you can! Baby eremins give me butterflies!^^





	

Sleepovers at Armin’s house were what Eren lived for. Once a week or so, he’d have something to look forward to and constantly reminded himself every day that he was one day closer to spending the night with Armin again. Armin had a magical voice, Eren believed. A voice that filled his head with wonder and imagination when he himself couldn’t so much as picture shapes in the clouds most of the time. He was always reeling to see Armin again, wondering what on earth he might think of and tell him about next…

“Eren, don’t you just love the fireflies?” Armin sighed as they looked outside his window that evening at the little bugs flittering in the air.

“They’re alright, I guess… Why?” Eren asked with a shrug and an excited smile to hear Armin put the magic in them for him…

“Alright?! They’re _amazing_! Little bugs that glow? Little living creatures that shine light in the darkness?! They’re wonderful!” Armin beamed.

Eren’s eyes widened. “Huh… I guess I never really thought about it that much…”

“Come with me, let’s go catch some!” He insisted and grabbed an empty jar and his friend to run outside in the twilight.

The evening air was warm enough for the bugs but Eren noted that the temperature had dropped since summer ended. “It’s going to be a cold winter…”

“Then it’s a good thing we’re out here before they disappear…” Armin noted with a slightly hushed tone as his eyes followed the glowing bugs. He tried to catch some in his hands, and managed to capture a slow one but missed several others…

As always, Eren jumped at the opportunity to fulfill Armin’s wishes. “Here, I’ve got it.” His quicker hands caught 3 without much trouble and placed them in the jar for his friend.

“Thank you. Ah- I forgot a cloth to put over it, now they’ll just escape.”

“Don’t worry.” Eren insisted and quickly tied his scarf over it. Somehow, Armin seemed to glow…

“Thank you… Let’s take them back to my room then, before you get chilled.” He requested, taking Eren’s hand the way Eren so often took his…

Back in Armin’s room, Eren walked together with his friend to the window seat and sat comfortably in his usual spot, while Armin took his. He realized a certain intrigue in his mind that he had _a seat of his own_ in _Armin’s house_ …

Armin opened the window and rested the jar in front of it. “Now, come see, up close… Isn’t it neat? It’s a living creature but it glows like a fire’s burning right inside its body!”

“Huh…”

“Or, if you like, lightning! Some people call them ‘lightning bugs’. I always thought that name was really interesting. Cuz the glow does look more like lightning than fire…” he chuckled. “Can you imagine having lightning inside you?”

“…Sounds painful.”

“And yet these little guys have it like it’s an every day thing!” Armin grinned, hoping to infect Eren with his own excitement…

The bugs in the jar glowed and blinked their lights, and a bright smile came across Armin’s face once he noticed the glow appearing in Eren’s eyes.

“…My grandpa told me that the reason they glow is that they’re looking for their lovers.”

“Eh? Seriously?” Eren guffawed gently with an ignored little blush crowning his cheeks.

“Seriously! The ones who glow for a long time like this ‘ _bliiink. bliiink’._ are looking for the ones that glow in a fast pattern. Like this, _‘blink blink blink’_.”

"Really? Huh. I wonder why…” Eren mused as he scrutinized the bugs in the little glass jar.

“Well, maybe it’s cuz the ones going faster sort of– _complete_ the slower ones?”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah…”

Eren traced his finger over the jar, following the trail of a slow blinking one. “…I wonder which one this one belongs with.”

“Hard to say…” Armin replied, running his finger over his lip in thought.

“Maybe they’re inside this jar. And we brought them together. Who’d have thought I’d be a matchmaker.”

Armin laughed. He knew somewhere deep down Eren had a romantic inside him. “There’s a thought… Okay, maybe we should let them go now. Don’t wanna keep them from finding their mate if they’re not inside this jar.”

“Mm.” Eren removed his scarf and watched as the bugs flew out one by one, finally followed by a pair that flew out last together, glowing in synch as they hovered away. Eren unconsciously moved over closer to Armin as he watched, bringing an unseen blush to his blond companion’s cheeks.

Armin smiled to himself and turned his head further upwards. “You know, I always liked to pretend that the fireflies are stars.”

“What? But they’re just bugs!” Eren laughed, listening on for whatever Armin might think of next with that fascinating brain of his.

Armin laughed too. “I know… but wouldn’t it be interesting if they were the stars that fell out of the cold sky, right into our midst inside the walls? And when you see a falling star, it’s actually a firefly coming down to earth. Searching for its mate in the warm air…”

Eren grinned. “You’re rather crazy, you know that?… What makes the stars fall?”

“I don’t know. I think maybe they just- run out of energy and crash?”

“Yikes.”

“Well, it’s not so bad if they fell to earth to find their mate. Then things would get easier for them.”

“Gross, that lovey-dovey stuff can’t possibly make life easier.”

“Is that really how you see love, Eren?” Armin smirked as he shook as his head.

“That’s how love is! My dad said he had a bunch of dreams as a kid but then he met my mom and said all he could think about after that was staying here in Shiganshina with her. Who wants to be so lost in the clouds they can’t even think straight?” He dismissed, surprisingly unable to look Armin in the eye as he said it while his cheeks grew strangely heated…

“But that’s why you exist isn’t it? As a result of love?”

Eren returned his gaze. “Well, yeah, but I don’t owe LOVE anything.”

“Hmm…” Armin seemed saddened. “If you don’t want love, then what _do_ you want when you grow up?”

“Hmm…” Eren propped his head against his arm on the sill, his knuckles smooshing out his cheeks in an unintentionally cute fashion. “I think I wanna be a police man.”

“Huh? But you hate the military police.”

“Yeah, I know, but, I’ll be different. I wanna end the unfair treatment of the poor and the weak. Stop as many bad guys as I can and put em in jail! That’s the job of the strong. To protect those in need.”

“That’s very noble of you.” Armin grew solemnly wistful.

“Yeah. I’ll make it safe for _you_ , too…” Eren promised as he looked into those sad eyes.

Armin gazed back into Eren’s silvery ones for a thoughtful moment… “…Eren, I wanna show you something. See those stars right there, just under the moon?”

Eren followed Armin’s finger but, embarrassingly, still wasn’t sure of where to look. “Which ones?”

“…Excuse me.” Armin blushed as he settled himself in between Eren’s legs to line up their eyesight. He then guided Eren’s hands over the group of stars he was referring to and rested his own head against Eren’s shoulder to get it out of Eren’s way. “These ones. I like to think these stars are a picture of us…”

Eren blushed, both from Armin’s position, and because he still couldn’t see it… “Picture? I don’t get it…”

“Here…” Armin closed the window and grabbed a jar of white paint and a brush from his dresser. He traced the air over the glass with his finger first for good measure and then painted thin lines connecting the stars into the picture he imagined. When complete, he replaced the paint and replaced his head on Eren’s shoulder to get out of his eyesight.

“Oh!…” Eren grinned, finally recognizing the picture. “That’s so awesome! Armin, how’d you think of that?”

“Logic!” Armin laughed as he raised his index finger. “Anyway, that’s us.”

“What are we doing?”

“Surveying the populace. Ensuring justice. And… never mind.”

“Huh? No, tell me!”

“Mmm…”

“Come on, it’s me! We tell each other everything. You trust me, right?” He questioned with a caring smile.

“Of course, I do. I just don’t wanna scare you…” Armin confessed, squirming shyly in Eren’s arms.

“Hey, nothing scares me!” He promised, puffing out his little chest slightly. “Please tell me, Armin.”

Armin’s heart raced and he finally took a deep breath in and out to confess his little secret. “…I like to pretend that the moon…” he picked up the brush and paint again and painted a few more hairlines onto his window. “…is a balloon.”

“A balloon?…”

“Yeah. You’ve heard the legends of people traveling by balloon.”

Eren’s eyes widened. “Yeah.”

“Well, I like to think that _we_ might some day…”

“To where?”

“Oh, I don’t know. No where in particular, I guess. I just think flying sounds nice…”

“That _would_ be pretty badass…”

“Yeah…” Armin sighed as he took a cloth and wiped away the paint on the window. “Well, anyway, now that you know what that picture is, you can see it anywhere.”

Eren beamed, eyes sparkling and mouth sporting a toothy smile. “Awesome! It’ll be like I’m with you even if you’re not there.” His arms wrapped around Armin’s waist, his glowing eyes still locked onto the constellation.

Armin laughed and leaned against him, never more comfortable than when he was like this with Eren. “…Eren?”

“Hm?”

“…Nothing, never mind.”

“What is it? I just told you, you can tell me anything. And if it’s embarrassing I won’t tell a soul, I swear it.” He insisted, unconsciously squeezing Armin’s hand in his.

“…Well, it’s just… When _I_ grow up, I wanna be an explorer…”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah… I know there’s not much to gain from it, but I wanna explore our lands and try to learn more about them. Share what I find with people.”

“Well, you could do that! You’re the smartest person I know.” Came Eren’s genuine reply. “If anybody could do that, it’s _you_.”

The flattered Armin chuckled shyly. “Well, thank you, but… I… wanted to ask if…”

Eren’s nose had nuzzled into Armin’s hair as he hung on the blond’s every word. “Yes?”

“If _you_ would explore _with_ me? I mean, when you’re not protecting and serving, that is. I don’t ever wanna get in the way of your dreams.”

Eren’s heart skipped a beat. In the way? That was the best dream he could imagine… “I’d love to! Alright, then let’s make a deal. You be my right hand on the force, and I’ll explore the lands with you whenever we’re off duty. Which should be often since the MP is so shitty. Deal?”

“ _Deal_.”

…

Armin smiled and began holding himself for warmth as the drafty air from outside began whisking up his neck and seeping through his thin clothes.

“Seems like you need a new window.” Eren declared. But knowing Armin didn’t wanna leave the sil, he simply wrapped his arms around him tighter.

“…How are you always so warm?” Armin mumbled into Eren’s neck.

“I’m not.” Eren argued kindly, unaware of the blush raging in his cheeks and denying himself knowledge of the blush running through Armin.

“You seem so when I feel you.”

“Really? I think the same when I feel you… Maybe the chill is just all in our heads.”

Armin laughed again. “Maybe. But it feels real…” he snuggled against Eren for more warmth and smiled to feel Eren snuggle him back. “You tired yet?”

“Nope.”

“What do you wanna do until bed time then?”

“Can we read something?”

“Sure!”

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> (this is actually an abandoned drabble which is why it cuts short at the end, but I hope the star part made you smile at least :3)


End file.
